Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey brain Stuff,
Speaker 1: Lauren boglebaumb here A. Being called a shrimp doesn't exactly
Speaker 1: make you known for having sizeable strength or an intimidating presence,
Speaker 1: but there are a few weird wonders of the sea
Speaker 1: that crush that stereotype of in dramatic ways. We've talked
Speaker 1: on the show before about the mantis shrimp, but today
Speaker 1: we're tackling the pistol shrimp. It's so powerful that it
Speaker 1: not only shoots and annihilates its prey, it's thrown the
Speaker 1: US Navy off track and even helped researchers make strides
Speaker 1: and finding clean sources of energy. A pistol shrimp, also
Speaker 1: known as stabbing shrimp, earn their sea cred by creating
Speaker 1: something that's seemingly innocuous bubbles. But these definitely aren't your
Speaker 1: ordinary bubbles. When they collapse, they make a sound louder
Speaker 1: than a gun and generate massive amounts of heat. A
Speaker 1: pistol shrimp shoot these deadly bubbles to kill prey a
Speaker 1: jackhammer and to rock to create burrows, or to protect
Speaker 1: said burrows from other shrimp. They have no need for
Speaker 1: a fancy holster or to stock up on AMMO. Their
Speaker 1: weapon is built right into their one oversized snapper claw,
Speaker 1: which can grow to be half the size of their
Speaker 1: tiny body. There are actually hundreds of species of these
Speaker 1: shrimp within the larger family of snapping shrimp, which live
Speaker 1: all over the world, mostly in tropical to temperate saltwater environments,
Speaker 1: where they can burrow into rocks or reefs or hide
Speaker 1: among sea grass. They tend to be just an inch
Speaker 1: or too long, about three to five centimeters, and have
Speaker 1: one claw much larger than the other, though it can
Speaker 1: be either claw left or right. The monstrous sound that
Speaker 1: they make isn't actually caused by the parts of the
Speaker 1: claw impacting each other. As the shrimp open their large
Speaker 1: snapper claw, water fills the small crook inside. Upon closing
Speaker 1: the claw with impressive force, a plunger like piece shoots
Speaker 1: the water out. It speeds as fast as a car
Speaker 1: traveling down the highway, as some sixty miles or one
Speaker 1: hundred kilometers an hour. It's so fast that it creates
Speaker 1: an area of pressure so low that a void or
Speaker 1: bubble of water vapor forms within the liquid water. That
Speaker 1: bubble quickly collapses, creating a flash of light and of heat,
Speaker 1: reaching some eight thousand degrees of fahrenheit that's about four thousand,
Speaker 1: five hundred degrees celsius, and creating shockwaves that not only
Speaker 1: stun or kill what's in their path, but make a
Speaker 1: ridiculously loud sound. Those collapsing bubbles have measured in at
Speaker 1: two hundred and eighteen decibels, which is louder than a
Speaker 1: speeding bullet to us humans. The sound isn't actually that loud,
Speaker 1: but that's due to the blast only lasting a tiny
Speaker 1: fraction of a second and being underwater. However, divers and
Speaker 1: snorkelers certainly can hear it. If you've I've had your
Speaker 1: head underwater and heard what sounds a little like the
Speaker 1: snap crackle pop of raised crispies. That's probably been a
Speaker 1: local population of pistol shrimp. It is heavy weaponry, but
Speaker 1: if attacked, pistol shrimp are willing to shed that claw
Speaker 1: in order to live and snap another day and snap again.
Speaker 1: They will. Alike all fellow decapods such as lobsters and crabs,
Speaker 1: pistol shrimp are capable of regrowing lost or damaged limbs
Speaker 1: during their next molt cycle, which is when they shed
Speaker 1: their shell and grow a new, bigger one. While the
Speaker 1: lost claw grows back, their smaller claw will begin to
Speaker 1: transform itself into the large snapper claw of the pair.
Speaker 1: The new one will be a regular, non snapping claw,
Speaker 1: and this gives them a head start in getting back
Speaker 1: on the path to shooting bubbles. That noise that they
Speaker 1: make through an unlikely wrench into the US Navy's defense
Speaker 1: plan during World War Two, the snapping sound began interfering
Speaker 1: with sonar used to detach enemy ships, causing the Navy
Speaker 1: to bring in researchers from the University of California Division
Speaker 1: of War Research. Luckily, they sorted out the source and
Speaker 1: recorded the shrimp's sounds to train so inar operators to
Speaker 1: recognize them as sea denizens rather than enemies. While that
Speaker 1: was admittedly troublesome, the sound created by pistol shrimp usually
Speaker 1: reflects the good health of a coral reef because lots
Speaker 1: of them hunting means lots of life and a balanced ecosystem.
Speaker 1: The noise can also help other sea creatures navigate the sea.
Speaker 1: Many species of pistol shrimp living clusters likely is a
Speaker 1: form of protection, and a few species work together with
Speaker 1: other types of animals. A pistol shrimp are known to
Speaker 1: give gobies, a type of small fish, a place to
Speaker 1: live in exchange for help watching out for danger. And
Speaker 1: pistol shrimp are also helping researchers who are working towards
Speaker 1: creating fusion reactors. Okay, A fusion is the process that
Speaker 1: powers our Sun and other stars aware in small or
Speaker 1: atoms smashed together to create larger atoms plus energy. A
Speaker 1: fusion has the potential to provide clean, safe energy, enough
Speaker 1: of it that we humans could seriously cut our dependence
Speaker 1: on polluted fossil fuels and sometimes hazardous nuclear power, and
Speaker 1: bring cheap electricity to all corners of the Earth. The
Speaker 1: potential is awesome, but we haven't figured out quite how
Speaker 1: to make it work efficiently. But we're talking about shrimp.
Speaker 1: A team out of England has taken inspiration from pistol shrimp.
Speaker 1: They're working with a type of fusion reaction called inertial
Speaker 1: confinement fusion. This type uses powerful shock waves to compress
Speaker 1: and heat a bit of fuel so much and so
Speaker 1: quickly that fusion occurs before the fuel can blow apart.
Speaker 1: So the researchers got the idea that the type of
Speaker 1: bubble creation and collapse that happens when a pistol shrimp
Speaker 1: shoots could represent a small scale version of a way
Speaker 1: to create that heat and pressure necessary to kickstart fusion
Speaker 1: in a bit of fuel. Basically, I'm not an expert
Speaker 1: and physics is complicated, so yes, these gun coding invertebrates
Speaker 1: are a standout under the sea and everywhere. Whether they're
Speaker 1: shooting the enemy or playing nice with their allies, they're
Speaker 1: one of nature's loudest and most fascinating critters. The next
Speaker 1: time you're in tropical waters, dip down and enjoy the
Speaker 1: sounds of the curious crackling chorus. Today's episode is based
Speaker 1: on the article pistol shrimp the fastest gun in the
Speaker 1: Sea on HowStuffWorks dot com, written by Katiecarmen. The brain
Speaker 1: Stuff is production of iHeartRadio in partnership with how stuffworks
Speaker 1: dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klang. Four more
Speaker 1: podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.